Reduce No Show Guidelines

If business was a sport, then running your day to day activities is the game, and managing your money is how you keep score.

One of the many ways of improving your score keeping is to keep your cancellations and no shows to the absolute MINIMUM. 1. Use your computer to flag the offending clients – know the clients who are inclined to be late and schedule their appointments in off peak times. 2. Communicate appointment confirmations on the double – for example, send a confirmation email 48 hours before and a text message 24 hours prior to the appointment. People then have a chance to rearrange if they can’t make it. And they can’t say they didn’t see at least one confirmation communication. 3. Have a 3 strike rule – that way you can’t be judged as being unfair. If a client cancels or is a no show on three occasions, stop taking a booking and say “it might be best if you book on the day next time”. So, you are very kindly telling them that you won’t be taking a future booking. 4. Put a notice up in the salon reception explaining cancellation charges or there will be a charge. Be firm, but fair, about implementing this. 5. Take deposits from ‘naughty clients’. 6. Have a ‘black list’, which means they will only be allowed to be serviced by walk-in status only.

Have a back-up plan

• Use a cancellation list to your benefit. Always have a list of clients who want an appointment today and call them when a cancellation occurs.
• Have a second list – a list of clients to contact at very short notice and they can avail of cheaper prices on the day. This means that even if you give discounted prices, there are no gaps in your appointment book.
• Most of your regular loyal clients will only cancel an appointment if it is an emergency and you would never need to ask them for a deposit. But, for the persistent latecomers and no-shows, introduce and implement your house rules, making sure that every client has a positive impact on your bank balance!

‘No shows’ to do List

1. Decide on your beauty salon house rules 2. Communicate this in your brochure, website and reception notice 3. Write your daily email and text confirmation communications 4. Staff training session to role-play cancellation policies 5. Implement new procedures   Checkout my Product below related to this blog. https://www.lizmckeon.com/product/the-salon-owner-troubleshooting-seminar-4cd-audio-boxset